Growing from seed

[workhorse]

Growing from seed is new to me, well gardening in general is the same. Always followed the wife around doing the hard work, and pulling up things that should have been left. Really, a bit of a liability.
So now that I have retired, I want to garden. Have a new greenhouse, (unheated), lots of trays etc, and lots of packets of seeds. So my questions are:
1. When should I start planting the seeds ( I know the packet gives advice, but I also know that their is a lots of experience out there, so I would rather take advice from you, than a packet.
2. How long does a plant take to grow from seed to when its ready to plant out in the garden, and at what time of the year do most people plant out their plants.
I feel I have a million other questions, but don't want to bore you, or loose your friendship to early.

[Ethansmum]

Oh thank you very much for posting this. I'm in a similar position, I'm a stay at home home and I need a hobby to stay sane this year. I love pottering around in the garden, but I have very limited knowledge. I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone too.
Tracy

[shirlthegirl43]

The seed packs really do give the best guide to the sowing, planting out etc times. However, you would do well to get an easy to understand book as well. Dr Hessayon's 'Vegetable and Herb Expert' is a super starter book with loads of easy to follow instructions and advice.

Good luck, don't sow all the seeds in the packet - sow a half dozen at a time and keep notes of how they do.

[smallblueplanet]

I think that the seed pkts have useful 'simple' info and are a good place to start. As with lots of things there isn't one 'overall' way to plant seeds. So to give you info perhaps you could be more specific as to where your confusion lies at the moment (it'll change, that's for sure!)?

We have a heated propagator for sowing seeds of more 'exotic' plants. We've just sown chillis, aubergines, pelargoniums and a few french marigolds.

We have sowed into small cells, 12 cells per 'half-seed-tray' sized module. If your seed is fresh I wouldn't sow too many seeds as its likely most will germinate (trial and error will confirm which need more seeds sowing to get the requisite number of plants).

We have sowed 2 seeds, one in each cell, of each of our chilli and aubergine varieties, similar for the flowers. We previously sowed globe artichokes into cells, again 1 per cell. Some folk will sow more seeds, but then you have to 'thin out' the seedlings - I'm not very good at throwing healthy seedlings away!

So what are you sowing at the moment? We are about to sow some broad beans into rootrainers to start them off, but I think they could be sowed direct.

Good luck, have fun.

[workhorse]

I am trying a variety of flowers for the garden, as well as Tomatoes, Cucumbers and some Peppers.

[Two_Sheds]

Hi Workhorse. Your toms, cukes and peppers are all tender, so don't plant out till May be out!
As to timings, don't sow too early. You'll just be upset and put off if your babies die from the cold. As timings are so variable, I try to sow in batches, a couple of weeks apart.

[gardenplot]

I just check the seed pks info and plant a few weeks before the time stated and keep them in unheated greenhouse just to get a head start, (cos i just can't wait to get going)
just sow a few seeds at a time and see how they turn out.
I have started some caulis & cabbage – good luck & happy planting

[workhorse]

I was looking to grow the Toms, cues and peppers in the greenhouse, but I get the feeling that planting any seed is a bit hit and miss. Am I right?

[gardenplot]

I have planted some tomato & cucumber seeds in pots but keeping them in the house on window sill till frost is well over about mid may.
Then will keep them in the greenhouse.

[smallblueplanet]

I was looking to grow the Toms, cues and peppers in the greenhouse, but I get the feeling that planting any seed is a bit hit and miss. Am I right?

I've never had problems, as long as you roughly stick to the pkt info. Occassionally you might get a whole duff pkt, but other than that....its down to you!

[Tracey]

Some folk will sow more seeds, but then you have to 'thin out' the seedlings - I'm not very good at throwing healthy seedlings away!

Glad it's not just me who feels bad about thining the seedlings and thowing some away!

Great tip about sowing less of fresh seeds.

[Ethansmum]

Argh, I could never do that either. Thanks for the tip about sowing less- I got abit carried away last year and ended up with 40 lupin plants that I had no room for- and no-one wanted.

[workhorse]

You see, I have no idea how long plants take to develop from seed to planting out. So my concern is if I plant to early, they'll develop to quickly, and I won't know what to do with them if they start to outgrow the multi-cells.

[smallblueplanet]

Pot them on!

Thats why the info on the seed pkt will give you 'rough' germination/sowing guides.

[scrooge]

Sowing and growing

The best way to sow seeds is to get an electric propagator, I also have what I call my hot bed in the greenhouse which is a meter square box about 4" deep in which I have laid a soil warming cable. The time it takes to get a seedling ready to plant out depends on the weather as much as anything so it will vary from year to year for none hardy plants it really is best to wait till about six weeks or so before the last frost. Your peppers will take forever to ripen so they would appreciate an early start but they would need to be kept above freezing otherwise it will be no show. I pot on all my seedlings into small yogart pots and then if it stays too cold into small pots, this has two advantages, you can move tham easily and there is little or no root disturbance when they are planted out.

Scrooge